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Kat Manalac

Feather — Modern-day furniture rentals for millennials and startups

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Rom Shiri
Great Idea. It really resonates with me.. However, the prices are way too high
Jay Reno
@rom_sh - glad to see the idea is resonating! Totally understand that the pricing might seem a bit high. We actually just implemented a new sliding price scale that will change the pricing based on the length of your rental. For example, a 12 month rental will be much less expensive than, say, a 3 month rental. Regardless, as we grow, the prices will most certainly be coming down as we achieve greater economies of scale :)
Andrew Brackin
@rom_sh @jay_reno You list Wayfair as an example furniture company. I bought a bed on there for less than $400 last year. So if your bed costs about that much for a year it doesn't make sense. The pricing should work for people that only plan to live in a city for a year, in my opinion. This makes sense for people sharing with friends and don't want to own a sectional couch. You should discount for bulk items too, this already exists as a service you've just 'startup-ized' it.
Suff Syed
@jay_reno Why wouldn't I just buy these things on Wayfair or Ikea or Article or JoyBird? The pricing seems too high to rent.
Andy Santamaria
@rom_sh @jay_reno @brackin Is there a rent-to-own option? That might be interesting to explore. Buying $400 bed doesn't really seem in line with what feather is trying to do since their items are generally a bit nice. Seems like the renting option might be an interesting way to try out a nicer item in your home while you're still deciding, but you know you don't want a cheap bed from IKEA. I like the concept and the convenience but modern isn't my style.
Jay Reno
Thanks @katmanalac! Feather (YC S17) is a furniture rental company, setting out to provide stylish, affordable furniture to people and startups that move frequently. I've moved 5 times in 6 years living in New York, and each time I spent an overwhelming amount of time at IKEA buying, schlepping, and assembling furniture I didn't exactly want. And at the end of each lease, I found myself with furniture that didn't travel well to my new apartment, and was often forced to scrap it, only to return to IKEA again to furnish my new apartment. It was a vicious cycle of buying things I didn't really want, that didn't really last - and I'm sure many of you have gone through the same trouble. That's why I created Feather - the best way to remove yourself from the burden of furniture. Click a few buttons and your furniture is delivered, fully assembled and placed in the the room of your choice. When you're ready to move, click a button and we'll come and pick it up. We're excited to help people live more freely and flexibly. Feedback openly welcomed! Thanks all, Jay, Founder & CEO
Dessa Lindstrom
@katmanalac @jay_reno YES! Just wrote about needing this, thank you! https://medium.com/@DessaBrennan...
Jay Reno
@dessabrennan @dessalindstrom - that's great to hear! Awesome Medium post!
Mac Connolly
@katmanalac @jay_reno I think that the vicious cycle of people posting 'your items are too expensive' and you needing to comment on every single one justifying *why* they are so expensive, is a really good example of how startup founders can look customer feedback in the face and say, 'you're wrong.' And I hate to be harsh, but that's why I can never see this taking off. You can't be on your site all day every day explaining to every potential customer why you're so overpriced - just doesn't bode well for the future in my opinion.
Guus Hoeve
@katmanalac @jay_reno @macconnollyco Assumptions, Assumptions, Assumptions. Yes I agree that price is very important, but time and mindspace is even more since you don't own it and have to take care of it. Pretty much the same as buying or renting a home; buying is allways cheaper but with it comes other responsibilities. Price is not going to win customers over, I agree, so messaging the "real value" is key. But there is a market for it, and it's fresh so people like @dessalindstrom are glad you made it! And also shows your entrepreneurial skill because you probably heared the arguments before, and decided to build it and test it out. Congratulations on getting on PH, and to throw in a slogan that fits; Mo forniture, Mo problems... :)
Ghost Kitty
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Ghost Kitty
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Jay Reno
@jakewesorick - really glad you brought this up, Jake. We have a couple of different types of renters: the first are people who move fairly frequently (every 3-6 months for work, are freelancers, etc.). The folks certainly don't want to buy a bunch of furniture only to have to try to sell or scrap it at the end of their stay. The economics work perfectly for this group. The second type of renter is one who will stay in their place for 9-12 months (students, anyone with a 1 yr lease, etc). The cost model for this type of renter is a bit different as you've pointed out. Why not just buy the furniture up front? For this group, the value of the service is more in not having to deal with their furniture (going to IKEA, carting it home, assembling everything in-home yourself, moving furniture to your next apartment and/or trying to sell or scrap it). The time cost of dealing with it all adds up fast. So for this group, the value of Feather is that you never have to worry about your furniture come stressful move time. You click a few buttons and the furniture magically shows up quickly, fully assembled, and placed in the room of your liking. When you're ready to move, click a button and your furniture disappears. Does this all seem to make sense?
Keyul
@jay_reno you have targeted perfect customer segment. I am from both on these categories so I understand the pain you have mentioned. But as a student, - the price is very high. - Students have enough time to go stores, buy stuff and assemble etc. - Most of the students buy stuff from other students through Facebook groups and sell it again when they have to move. so it will be much cheaper. - Many properties provide a room with furniture. Hope this perspective will be helpful to you .
Jay Reno
@keyul - thanks for the insights, all very helpful and much appreciated! Curious to learn more about what specifically leads you to feel that the prices are high. Anything we could lean on there?
Keyul
@jay_reno Take an example of chair mentioned by @jakewesorick . Let say I bought the chair in $296 for one time. Going to sell after 12 months assume for half price $148 . If I divide 148/12 = $12.33/month. From Feather, it will be $27/month or $27*12 = $324
Chris Backe
Only available in NYC and SF. Not even a whole country or state. Thanks anyway, but the rest of the world will have to stick to Craigslist and the local second-hand shops.
Jay Reno
@oneweirdglobe - We have grand plans to be available across the country and globe. Alas, we had to pick a few places to start. If you're curious to stay in touch, let us know where you are and we'll put you on our shortlist to reach out once we've launched near you!
Parker Agee
Great idea. I think as this business scales, it will really resonate with people. I opened a coworking space and spent $8k+ on furniture without knowing whether or not the coworking business would survive in my town. This would have been a great option to have when starting the coworking space. But, I agree with some comments here about the prices being a little high. Best of luck!
Jay Reno
@parkeragee - great idea, Parker. We've found that a number of growing startups and small businesses, especially with small to medium-sized offices, have benefitted tremendously by renting vs forking over thousands of dollars up front before they've found product/market fit. Hope the co-working space project went well!
Robert Bye
You do realise that millennial can barely afford rent let alone splash out $400 a month on a bookcase. IKEA is cheaper than renting one of these for a month!
Jay Reno
@robjbye - you're totally right! The bookcase on there was added as a request by one of our customers, wanting to rent that particular item. It's definitely above what most (read: all) younger people would be willing to spend on a bookcase per month. We do have a number of more well-funded companies that have a bit more money to spend than you or I, so that's generally where the "premium" furniture on our site is being rented. Thanks for your note - we'll make sure our prices stay as low as they can as we grow.
Mario 🦊
Makes so much sense.
Jay Reno
@mdagabriele appreciate the kind words!
Ilan Nass
Awesome idea!
Jay Reno
@ilannass thanks Ilan!
Gary Tokman
How are the delivery times calculated? Seems like a long wait when I can just go to IKEA the same day and grab a desk. I could justify the high price per month if you provided a simple mobile app experience like Uber and delivered to my apartment the same day!
Jay Reno
@garytokman great question! Some items we have in stock and can deliver to you as soon as the next day. Other items we have to get from our furniture partners. To minimize the time to delivery for folks who might want something as quickly as possible, we've put together a quick delivery section, where everything can be delivered, fully assembled, in as little as 3 days.
Jon Levin
This is a great idea @jay_reno! A friend of mine had this same startup idea about a year ago and worked through all the business modeling to understand it's viability. Have you solved how to capture residual value of your stock after it comes off rental? Can it be refurbished and re-rented or re-sold?
Benjamin Wasson, MBA
I really don't understand this. You're renting stuff I can buy at Ikea for the monthly price you're renting it for (or near to it). What's the benefit? If I were to swap out my furniture every few months I could see doing this, but do people ever do that? The only thing I could see this working for would be when people launch a coworking space or something to reduce the cash outlay a little bit (But really only a little bit). But then you're not going to have very long term customers (If it's working they'll just buy the furniture to cut the burn rate).
Valentin D
Really great idea ! I'm surprised that this doesn't already exist !
Jay Reno
@valdecarpentrie - we said the same thing! :)
Rahul Mantri
Great idea Jay! Any plans on expanding to other cities soon? Say D.C or Boston?
Jay Reno
@mantritech thanks Rahul! We'd love to be in DC and Boston in the near future - stay tuned :)
Sarah Arnold
Awesome idea and team!! 🙌
Jay Reno
@sarah3o6 - thanks Sarah! Donut.ai looks fantastic - culture is 💯
Gustaf Alströmer
Congrats on the launch! Excited about this! :)
Jay Reno
@gustaf - thanks for the kind words!
Janine Yorio
I love this. Well done.
Fatimah Kabba
This is neat. But to describe it as "new" as they do on their homepage is...misleading at best. Unless we're pretending Rent-a-Center doesn't exist, that tiny little 3 billion dollar, 40+ year old company with a nearly identical (but brick-and-mortar) biz model.
Bret Morgan
Splitting this comment because it's too long for PH. I think this is a great idea but missed the mark. I see a few mentions of coworking spaces as perfect clients. We own two spaces and are looking to opening a third and i wouldn't use this service (and upfront cash is always definitely an issue). I see a lot of mention of IKEA and paired with a low interest teaser rate credit and is a much better deal then the prices you guys are currently offering. To be honest- we would (and will) just go buy our desks and chairs from Autonomous. They offer a motorized standing desk/ergo chair combo for less than $500 which they'll finance at 0% with Affirm over a 12 month period. Do the math and this is an order of magnitude cheaper AND you own the furniture.
Bret Morgan
I'll also just briefly touch on amortizing the cost depreciation of assets when running any business. Furniture is considered an asset to your business. You can also write off depreciation over a number of years on your tax returns. I'm simplifying thing for clarity but when you shift this to a rental scenario- you loose the ability to write down these "losses". This might not be completely a deal breaker but It's certainly something you should consider when deciding to go rent vs ownership. I would love to use this- I really would - it would certainly make our lives easier but the economics just aren't there. I'd be happy to provide any more feedback for you being that we seem to be your target customer and have a lot of experience/opinions in the space.
Miftakhul Farikhin
In india there is furlenco startup working on this idea. And they're growing. Hope this can be successful in US too
Pelin Rüzgar
Amazing idea! Wish we had this in Turkey as well.
Jay Reno
@pelin_ruzgar - we'd love to jump the pond to Turkey! Give us some time, and hopefully we can make it over to you.